Luxury life in Qatar


According to the original plan at this moment I would already be in Finland – but as explained in the previous post, my homecoming got delayed by one day.

So right now I am at the Grand Regency hotel in Doha, Qatar, watching Arabic and Western music videos from a huge widescreen TV in my air-conditioned, fairly elegant room. Apparently being late for your flight and getting a new one which has an overnight transit instead of a night flight was a good thing after all! I arrived from Dar to Doha after 9pm, asked around at the airport, was first being told that I should just sleep in the quiet rooms at the airport, but after checking them and stating that they are full I gave another try at the transit desk, and yes! Qatar Airways offers this night, which at the moment is like the best gift ever, although it also feels very surreal being in this five-star hotel after staying in all those crappy, cheap guesthouses in Tanzania. Room here would ordinarily cost 1400 QR, which is about 280 €. Sweet start for a homecoming..!

A shuttle bus brought me together with some other passengers to the Regency hotel, about 20-minute drive from the airport. At the reception I was being told that “only the buffet dinner is included, other things you have to pay yourself” (like for this Internet connection). Now, then, I am stuffed with different Oriental and Mediterranean dishes, enjoying especially the sweet desserts. I have to remark that five stars don’t guarantee good taste in music – for dinner I listened to “the best hits of the 90s played with a pan flute”. ‘Candle In The Wind’ and ‘My Heart Will Go On’ as pan flute versions, just what I wanted to hear while I’m eating…

Besides full stomach, I am also being relaxed by a hot bath in a real bathtub! I might be getting a bit too excited by all this, but really: here you have a lot more than the usual hotel soap. I have a shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, body scrub, body lotion, two different soaps, “a vanity kit” (with cotton and other stuff) and a shower cap. For some reason there is a phone also in the bathroom - for emergencies?

I suppose it is time for bed now since I have an early wake-up after only a few hours because I have to be at the airport two hours before departure (7.40 am). But hey, sleeping in a real bed instead of uncomfortable airport benches – what more could a girl hope for?

Just a note - at the publishing time I am actually in Vienna, trying to warm up myself from time to time in different places: cafés, shops, trams and Internet cafés...the fridge temperature outside is not THAT bad, but I just don't feel like staying there for too long. So, Finland in just a few hours..!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ah, les belges!

Warning: this post includes a lot of complaining about little things. I can't help but be constantly reminded by a friend of mine who also did an internship at the European Commission and later on worked there as a consultant for a few months. Samuli warned me: "On the face of it, everything seems to be working in Belgium. In reality, nothing works. Oh, so true. It is strange how differently and SLOWLY things function (or don't at all) in Belgium. Luckily I have been spared from taking care of all these practical things such as acquiring an internet connection, electricity and gas contracts or other, seemingly simple issues. In the end they are not that simple. Most of the things take one month. Having an internet connection? 4-6 weeks. Electricity? 2 weeks, at least, if the former tenant has called in his/her electricity contract in the apartment. Fridge? About 3 weeks. There are all these minor things that just don't make sense. For example, there is an automatic lau...
Read more

Henna Senegalese way

Image
As in most Muslim countries, henna (in Wolof fuddan ) belongs to the women's beauty traditions in Senegal. The usage and patterns of henna varies from country to country, but in Senegal it has been very different than what I have seen in Morocco or Tanzania, for example. I tried it the first time two days ago, and here's the story: A woman often visiting the project had a few weeks back very beautiful henna patterns on her feet and hands, so I asked where I could get similar ones. She suggested that she could do the henna for me, but of course, she was not the one who had made the ones on her...in any case, the patterns turned out quite nice, though not as artistic as hers. The patterns of henna are made with the help of thin pieces of plastic which have a sticky side and attach to the skin if it is not too sweaty...for me, feet were alright, but hands I had to leave for another time. Then becomes the weird part that I also have not seen in other countries: feet are wrapped in ...
Read more

Music of Bhutan

Image
This post tries to briefly explain the little known various styles of Bhutanese music which you can hear blasting from the local radio stations every day. Religious music is in a category of its own, with sacred dances and monastery music - here I will only focus on folk and popular music. B-pop Starting with the newest form: B-pop , a style "invented" by a local music studio in Thimphu called M-Studio . They have produced several hits during their few years of existence, most famously Tharingsa of which I have heard at least four different versions (not to mention all the karaoke interpretations), and Yonphula which is probably their second-biggest hit. The video below, filmed on a beautiful river-side with a prayer flag covered bridge in the background, is an acoustic version of singer-songwriter Pema Deki's "Due Atara". The faster, disco-type original song was chosen for the first ever flashmob organized in Bhutan: Pema Deki performed her song live wh...
Read more